Jazzerman here, I do not own any of these characters, they are owned by their respected companies, as many as there are. You've heard this crap before. I DO own the OCs. If you'd like to use them in a fic, just tell me.

Am I Heartless?

Part 6

The Gummi ship gently touched down just outside the market place, as the group walked out they could see that things hadn't really changed all that much since they were here last. There were many more people however, each of them going on about their personal business. But before they would let Orin go out where people could see him they knew something had to be done about his appearance.

Riku took off his yellow jacket and handed it to Orin. "You want someone to see that mark on your chest?"

Orin shook his head and put the jacket on and zipped it up. Thankfully the Heartless mark did not appear like it had when he showed them back on the Destiny islands. However something remained to be seen to... "What about my antennas?"

Sora put his arms behind his head as he thought along with the others. "You think Donald would mind if you barrowed his hat?"

Donald nearly threw a fit at that idea and clamped his hands down on his hat as if they were actually going to try to steal it off his head. "No way! I don't care what you say my hat stays on my head!"

"And mine wouldn't cover either of them there antennas." Goofy said, examining his own hat before putting it back on.

"Not to mention I'd look pretty silly wearing it." Orin said, quickly adding; "But that's just me, it looks good on you Goofy."

Goofy chuckled and nodded, letting Orin know he understood what he meant. Goofy knew Orin was a good person despite his appearance, in some ways Orin reminded Goofy of the Beast.

However the group couldn't think of anything to do about Orin's antennas. Sora considered trying to snatch Donald's hat but decided against it once Donald noticed the way Sora was looking at him. The brain trust was interrupted by a familiar face.

"Sora, Donald, Goofy good to see you again!"

The gang looked up to see Yuffie standing on top of the nearby roof. In an instant she leapt down from the roof and landed in front of the group.

"Yuffie! Nice to see you again, how are Leon and the others?" Sora said, always glad to see a friendly face, and in his opinion Yuffie's endless supply of energy seemed to be contagious.

"Leon and the others are fine. Cloud's back from where ever it is he went when he and Sephiroth disappeared to. Cloud's been helping out with reconstruction, before you guys beat Organization XIII all he'd do is sit around and mope about Sephiroth." Yuffie looked over at the other members of the band that came with Sora. She knew Donald and Goofy nearly as well as she Sora, however she had only met Kairi once and she had never actually met Riku before. She could the weird looking guy in the rear of the group was trying his best to be inconspicuous.

Sora grinned. He was glad to hear that Cloud was alright. "Awesome! Let me introduce my friends Riku, Kairi, and my new friend Orin."

Yuffie smiled and walked up to Riku. In her opinion he looked kinda cute. "So this is the infamous Riku, nice to meet you at last."

Riku smirked. "My reputation precedes me."

"Nah, I just wanted to see the guy Sora was looking for the last time I saw him, nice to meet ya." Yuffie laughed as she turned to face Kairi. "Man Kairi you've grown since I saw you last. You look good!"

Kairi smiled and nodded. "Thanks Yuffie. You're looking good too."

"I always look good." Yuffie said, putting her hands behind her head and giving the entire group a wink.

Orin smiled, maybe Yuffie wasn't going to be like some of the people he's met. However before Orin could think any further he realized that Yuffie was standing nearly nose to nose with him.

"What's with the feelers on your head? You descended from a race of bugs or are they just for look?" Yuffie asked, flicking one of Orin's antennas with her finger.

Orin yelped and grasped the black wiggling antenna with both hands. "That hurt!" He spat angrily at the ninja.

Yuffie blinked and reached to touch Orin's other antenna but Orin jumped back.

"Oh come on it wasn't like I was going to tear it off or anything." Yuffie said, as if she had done nothing to warrant such behavior.

Orin grumbled but said nothing. This girl sure knew how to get on his nerves, what was her problem anyway?

"Well, look what the ninja dragged in. Looks like I found where you've been goofing off Yuffie."

The group turned to see Leon coming up the steps towards them. Nothing about him had changed since they had seen him last. He had his jacket slung over his back and he looked a little tired but then again what can you expect when you had to help rebuild a city?

"Sorry Leon..." Yuffie said, she was doing her best to sound sincere but she really HAD been enjoying her 'time off'.

Leon shook his head, Yuffie was a great asset in a fight but outside of battle she was a typical teenager. He turned to the offworlders and smirked. "So guys what's new?"

"Not a lot. Have you guys had any problems with the Heartless?" Sora said.

"We've had reports of them but they only attack when provoked. Strange behavior even for them, normally they just attack any living thing and try to steal their hearts." Leon said, "The security system and claymores take care of any Heartless that gets too close to the town. Is that the only reason all of you came by?"

((A/N: Claymores are what Cid called the orbs that help you out during fights in Hallow bastion/Radiant garden))

"No, we thought that Ansem's computer might have some information on him. You see his memory is like Swiss cheese." Riku said flatly.

Orin smiled weakly, he was glad that Riku was sticking up for him. For the time being anyway. But on a personal level Orin was beginning to feel uncomfortable, Riku's vest was really hot.

"You must be Riku. Sora's told me a lot about you." Leon looked the young man over and smirked. "I can see why Sora looked up to you."

Riku laughed and looked over at Sora, who was looking pretty embarrassed. Riku just shook his head and looked back at Leon. "Nice to know I have a reputation in this town."

"Hey let's get going," Kairi said. "You know while we're here Wakka is back home explaining why we're not at home right now."

"On the way there we should check up on Cid. He's been through just about everything in that computer." Leon said. "He could pull up any file in that computer you'd want in a second."

The gang nodded in agreement and headed towards Merlin's house, and as they went Sora, Donald, and Goofy got some thankful looks and kind words from the townsfolk for helping rid the worlds of the Heartless. Orin was silently grateful that Sora was drawing attention away from him and his antennas.

As they came to the door to the old wizard's house Yuffie and Leon stopped and turned to the group.

"Merlin's currently out visiting with Queen Minnie at Disney castle. So Cid's pretty happy having the place to himself." Yuffie said. Yuffie herself didn't mind Merlin, he was a little too stuffy for her tastes but then again most people his age are in her experience. "He'll be there a while. She's trying to come to the castle every so often to teach magic to young mages."

Leon nodded. "He's not expected back for a few days and we promised not to touch anything. So try not to break anything or we'll have an angry wizard when Merlin gets back."

And with that Leon opened the door. The house was still as cluttered as before but it looked like it had had a good cleaning since Sora had been there last. There was a small fire in Merlin's wood stove and Cid was sitting at his computer terminal as he always was.

"Riku, Kairi, Orin, welcome to the Radiant garden restoration committee headquarters." Yuffie said proudly.

Cid didn't even look back as they came in, he just stared at the screen and typed like the wind. "One sec kids, I'm havin' a hard time figurin' out this signal the computer system is pickin' up."

"Come on Cid, get away from that computer for a sec and be sociable for a change." Yuffie snorted in annoyance, she preferred it when Cid looked at her when he talked.

Cid grumbled and turned around, he didn't like leaving something like this unfinished. "Okay let's make this quick, what's this about?"

Sora stepped forward. "We'd like to look up some information for Orin here. He says he used to live around here a long time ago but would like to look up information on his parents and some other stuff."

"So yer friend with the weird headgear says he used to live here eh?" Cid said as he took his toothpick out of his mouth. "You know anyone here kid?"

"I remember some people, but it's all very vague." Orin said, "Like looking through a dirty window or muddy water. You can see things on the other side but you can't make out distinct shapes."

"Yeah, he asked us if Yuffie was a brunette that used to run a flower shop." Riku smirked, going to love whatever response he was going to get from that.

Aerith visibly flinched, she didn't dislike Yuffie but to think that someone mixed her and Yuffie up was a little unsettling. "Well, you explained to him that wasn't the case right?"

"Yeah, like I said it's hard to remember. Didn't you used to have a flower shop Aerith?" Orin asked.

Aerith put her hands together and nodded. "Yes I did. But that was long before the Heartless first attacked or Radiant garden was renamed Hallow bastion. Tell us, what is your full name Orin?"

Orin scratched his head as his antennas continued to twitch back and forth. He seemed to be having trouble remembering his own name. "Penwheel, Orin Penwheel."

Yuffie closed her eyes and began to rummage around in her memory. The name 'Penwheel' rang a bell but she didn't remember anyone her age named 'Orin'. Then again she hung out with a small crowd, it's possible she just never met him.

"Do you remember anyone else Orin?" Aerith asked, her voice as calm and gentle as ever.

Orin nodded. "Yeah. I remember the guy who did this to me. His name was Xehanort."

"Xehanort?" Everyone exclaimed, even after his Nobody and Heartless were gone he still managed to disrupt the peace of the worlds.

"I remember that's what the name on portrait I saw when I was escaping the lab. I just have this feeling that's who made me like this."

"He gave ya those antennas? Why? Was he tryin' to corner the market on customized headgear?" Cid laughed, if he hadn't taken the toothpick out of his mouth his laughter would've shot it across the room like a missile.

Orin looked over at Kairi and motioned her to come closer. Not knowing exactly what he wanted Kairi shrugged and walked over to him wherein Orin put his hand up next to her ear and began to whisper something so only she could hear. The others stained their ears to catch a hint of what he was telling her. But Orin wasn't long enough for anyone to get anything of importance. Kairi turned to face Orin and shook her head.

"I dunno Orin... I mean you know what Riku tried to do to you when... you know..." Kairi said, choosing her words carefully but only further rousing Leon and the other's suspicions.

Orin gritted his teeth and smiled, looking rather pathetic for a person their age. "I know but I got you guys to protect me in case things turn sour right? Besides this vest is hot. Seriously, if you were to put this thing on a pig in a few hours you'd have a pot roast."

Sora barely stifled a laugh in time to avoid the sharp glace Riku shot him.

Riku then looked over at Orin, giving the young man a reassuring smile. "It's okay Orin. It's for the best, they'll probably figure it out sooner or later."

Orin nodded and turned away from Leon, Aerith, Cid, and Yuffie as he unzipped Riku's vest and with one quick movement slipped it off and turned back to the Radiant garden restoration committee. The Heartless symbols on his back and chest clear for everyone to see.

In an instant a Gunblade and an oversized shuriken were drawn and pointed at Orin.

Yuffie felt like slapping herself. The yellow eyes, the antennas... did she really have to see the emblem to understand what he was? Gawd she felt so dense right now...

"Okay guys stand back and we'll take care of this Heartless." Leon said, readying his Gunblade for a quick precise strike.

Sora and Riku both summoned their Keyblades and crossed them, barring Leon's path and nearly scaring Orin to death and causing him to slink back against the wall.

"You guys better have a good explanation for defending this thing." Yuffie said crossly as she hefted her shuriken on her shoulder.

"To be honest we're not sure he is a Heartless. However at the time we can't say he isn't." Riku said, as he continued he looked at Orin. "But from how he's behaved since we've met I really don't think he's any real danger. Just don't get too close."

Orin smirked and tossed Riku his vest. "Thanks Riku for putting that in such a positive light."

"Okay..." Leon said tiredly as he took a chair and sat down with his arms crossed on the back of the chair. "Now start explaining."

To be continued...